Energy and Eros: Teachings on the Art of Love - Hardcover

Powell, Jim

4.62

8 ratings by Goodreads

9780688028114: Energy and Eros: Teachings on the Art of Love

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 068802811X ISBN 13: 9780688028114

Publisher: William Morrow & Co, 1985

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

Book by Powell, Jim

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From the Author:

Starting from Foucault's premise that sexuality, culturally specific thinking about sex, deeply influences how sex is actually practiced in various societies, this book describes how--in some Western, Eastern, and Oceanic cultures--religious thought has influenced sex. The chapters on Western, Indian, Tantric, and Chinese Taoist approaches are descriptive rather than prescriptive, with the author first presenting and then critiquing them. The author saves the "how-to" dimension for the final chapter, when discussing teachings derived from observing romance in some South Pacific cultures. It was in the book's Japanese translation, that these teachings really caught fire as a new member of the already popular Slowness Movement. When Buddhist Hiroyuki Itsuki, a renowned Japanese writer and Buddhist scholar, read Energy and Eros and wrote two volumes based on it, the Polynesian love craze was born in Japan. Celebrities began promoting this way of slow loving, and the head of Japan's family planning association, Kunio Kitamura, chimed in, recommending it to Japanese couples for more meaning on the mattress. In Kitamura's words, "Polynesian sex. . . .involves taking a long time . . .and. . . allows energy in the form of weak electromagnetic waves, similar to the concept of ki to flow, building up to create large waves that encompass the entire body and bring enormous pleasure and happiness."Both Itsuki and Kitamura recognized, as did much later, Peggy Orenstein, that contemporary sexuality has been appropriated by the porn industry: and that subsequently relations between lovers have become dictated and devalued by the tone and imagery pumped into the media by that industry. Itsuki and Kitamura, however, also recognized in the teachings on South Seas sexuality as presented in Energy and Eros, a tranquil, natural, and physically and spiritually passionate alternative: an antidote to the increasing acceleration in every realm of human life. This alternative is based upon the truth that the ability to do less is contained, always already, within the ability to do more. It is not surprising that the Japanese were the ones to fully appreciate these teachings, because their culture has been deeply influenced by the Chinese concept of wu wei "effortless action," which inspired, for instance, judo: literally the "easy way." Doing less to accomplish much more. Just as the author critiques some aspects of Tantra and Taoist sexuality, after Itsuki and Kitomura's writings encouraged lovers to embrace the South Seas teachings in Energy and Eros, this volume became more than a mere book. It became a quiet revolution against a ubiquitous, dehumanizing, and hyper-imagistic sexual culture.

Review:

"This method involves taking a long time to thoroughly touch each other and increase arousal across the entire body. This allows energy in the form of weak electronic waves similar to the concept of "ki" to flow, building up as they do so to create large waves that encompass the entire body and brings about enormous pleasure and happiness." ~ Dr. Kunio Kitamura, head of Japan's family planning association, as quoted in Gaijinpot

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.